Atlanta woman will spend life behind bars after hiring gym instructor 'Mr Results' to murder her fifth husband - luring him to his death with a romantic Valentine's Day tryst

Stacey Schoeck is serving a life sentence after admitting hiring a hit-man to murder her 46-year-old husband Richard, a hot-air ballooning enthusiast who had adopted her three children

Richard's family spoke out yesterday the third anniversary of the murder which took place on Valentine's Day 2010

Schoeck hired personal trainer Reginald Coleman through a work colleague for $10,000 to carry out the fatal shooting in Belton Bridge Park. She told her husband she wanted to meet there to exchange Valentine's Day cards

A cheating wife who paid a personal trainer to shoot her husband dead on Valentine's Day after luring him with the promise of a romantic evening marked the anniversary in jail yesterday.

Mother-of-three Stacey Schoeck, 38, was the 'mastermind' of the murder of her fifth husband and adopted father of her children - hiring a hit-man through a woman she met in work, who shot him dead on February 14 2010 in an isolated spot in a local park.

On the third anniversary of Richard Schoeck's death and his wife's third month behind bars, his family have told the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of their relief and their hatred of the woman who innocently became a member of their family before turning murderess.

Lured to death: Stacey Schoeck admitted hiring a hit-man to murder her husband, Richard, pictured. Richard's family spoke yesterday - the anniversary of the Valentine's Day shooting

Murder plot: Schoeck's work buddy Lynitra Ross, left, advised her friend to hire hit-man Reginald Coleman, right, at a meal at a Mexican restaurant. He worked as a personal trainer called 'Mr Results'

'Richard was always there,' his sister Carol Fillingim told the local paper. 'He would help anybody do anything. It will never be behind us.

'We’re trying to get a little closure to it. I hope it keeps other criminals from thinking they can get away with something like this.'

Schoeck, of Snellville, a city just east of Atlanta, was lured to Belton Bridge Park in Hall County by his wife - having been told she wanted to exchange Valentine's cards in a romantic spot.

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Instead Reginald Coleman, a personal trainer who went by the name 'Mr Results' was laying in wait and shot the University facilities manager dead

Coleman was hired through Lynitra Ross, Schoeck's work colleague at the DeKalb County spinal clinic where they both worked in administration. Coleman had previously offered lunchtime training sessions at the clinic.

The arrangement was set up over a meal at a Mexican restaurant between the two women. The prosecution alleged Schoeck gave Ross a house she owned and paid Coleman $10,000.

Valentine's murder: Stacey Schoeck, left, was sentenced in December. Richard's family remember him as a kind, fun man, right, who adopted his wife's three children and was always 'there for his family'

According to reports Richard Schoeck had a life insurance policy worth $500,000 - something his wife stood to gain following his death.

Schoeck admitted to having an affair in court and eventually admitted the plot against her 46-year-old husband and testified against her co-accused to avoid the death penalty.

She was sentenced to life imprisonment in December.

Phone records revealed communication between the three suspects before, during and after the crime.

Prosecutors also alleged the trio went on a 'dry run' to scope out the scene ahead of the Valentine's Day attack.

Ross never admitted her role in the killing but was sentenced to life in August. Coleman pleaded guilty and will also serve life in prison.

To add further insult to her late husband's family, Schoeck's one defense in court was to claim her ex-husband had molestered one of her sons - something later quashed with the evidence from the children, one of whom told of how he missed 'Daddy Richard' who had adopted them all, according to the Gainsville Times.

For Richard Schoeck's family his murder was pointless, a crime masterminded by a woman who just wanted out of her marriage and no longer cared for her kind, hot air ballooning enthusiast husband.

'It was such a heinous murder done to someone that did not deserve it at all,' Fillingim, told the Journal-Constitution.

'She was such a cowardly woman that couldn’t keep herself in control and had never had anyone that stood up to her. When you get too much power and control, you just believe you can do anything.'

'Richard was a fine man, a Boy Scout leader, a very community-minded, compassionate person,' Hall County District Attorney Lee Darragh told the newspaper. 'He was a busy, well-liked person.'

'Judge (Jason) Deal appropriately
recognized that Stacey Schoeck was the engine that put this train in
motion, until the death of her husband. Without her involvement, this would not have occurred,' the DA told the Gainsville Times.